Principal's Newsletter - 2018/2019 Term 3

TERM 3 | 2018-2019

THE RAPTOR REPORTER From the Office of the Principal

FROM MR. IAIN Dear Parents, We have reached the end of another fabulous year at Raha and during these last few weeks I always enjoy reflecting on all the great things that have happened during the year and then taking a moment to look forward to next year.

The 2019/20 academic year has been an excellent one for the Raha Community.

We have had many successes and exciting things happen during this year a few of which I would like to highlight in this newsletter.

IMPORTANT DATES: 1 Sept

Orientation Day 2 Sept

First Day for all students

We remain the pride of Abu Dhabi schools. This was recognized when we were awarded the ‘Best IB school in the UAE’ by Schools Compared in March at their gala awards ceremony. We are also currently the only ‘Outstanding’ IB school in the country. This is a tremendous achievement for our whole community. We are one family and coming together as we do has many benefits for our incredible students. I am very proud to be leading such an exceptional school and look forward to another impressive year in 2020 as we embark on the biggest school expansion project in Abu Dhabi!

Another thing I wanted to especially draw your attention to is the introduction of summer long internships for our older students. This is the first time Raha has ever embarked on such an initiative and the uptake from companies and students has been far greater than we all expected. For our students to gain experience in a high-quality Abu Dhabi based company during the summer break is a great advantage to them as they move into a competitive world. I am grateful to the work of Mr. George Scorgie and all our partner companies for their hard work getting these internships up and running. See more details below.

I want to wish all a wonderful summer holiday and wish our departing students and families the very best for the future. We hope you stay in touch even as you move on and let us know your successes as you continue your journey beyond Raha.

- Mr. Iain

THE RAPTOR REPORTER

SUMMER BREAK REMINDER Admissions and administration offices will remain open over the break.

Office hours will be: Sunday - Thursday 8:00am - 4:00pm

RAHA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL KHALIFA CITY CAMPUS Our new campus plans are now moving forward quickly.

The Khalifa City campus will open initially with a new Early Years block in September 2020. The rest of the school should be completed and ready to open in 2021. The pace of construction will be rather fast.

It will all be in precast concrete to ensure that onsite work is very efficient and quick. To the right are a couple of pictures of the new plans and the Early Years block specifically.

As usual, admissions will open in September for both campuses. Please see attached admissions policy if you would like more details.

In order to answer all the questions you may have we are building a comprehensive FAQs as we progress towards the new campus opening.

This can be accessed at www.ris.ae/for-parents/frequently-asked-questions.html Over the coming academic year, we will continue to share information with parents and listen to your views and those of the staff and students. We hope to make this a very smooth expansion. We know that by working together we can make this happen.

TERM 3 | 2018-2019

TERM 2 | 2018-2019

KHALIFA CITY CAMPUS LOCATION If you would like to see the new campus location, see the map below. Feel free to drive by the site (it’s less than five minutes away) and watch the progress once construction is underway.

Directions: If you leave Raha International School Gardens Campus, take the 2nd exit to continue straight towards the Khalifa City ADNOC service station.

After the 4th roundabout, take the 2nd road right.

At the 2nd roundabout, take the 3rd exit.

The Khalifa City campus plot will be on your righthand side, on the right side of Khalifa City A School, an ADEK school.

TERM 3 | 2018-2019

SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM STRUCTURE 19/20 With the school growing next year and the work going into the new campus we have expanded our Senior Leadership Team to ensure that we maintain the same standards on the current campus, whilst also ensuring the new campus opening is managed successfully. As such our new structure looks like this:

The two significant changes are the appointment of a Vice Principal and an additional deputy Head in the PYP to give Early Years and Primary the same leadership structure and capacity. The team have been working for a number of months on the distribution of responsibilities in order to ensure that we remain efficient and effective with our decision making, problem solving, strategic thinking and communication.

SCHOOL ADVISORY BOARD (SAB) We are fortunate to have an excellent SAB at Raha, whose role it is to support the Principal in guiding the school forward.

This year a number of key members are leaving the school and we are looking for replacement members.

If you are interested in joining the SAB, please email Rebecca Rouen (Executive Assistant to the Principal) at rrouen@ris.ae with a one-page CV and 150 word covering letter. Please provide this as one document in PDF form by 1 September 2019. Following this, existing members will shortlist the most suitbale candidates for joining and if you are chosen, you will be asked to meet with members of the SAB for a short question and answer session.

We look forward to receiving quality applications from across the school community.

GRADE 12 LEAVERS

THE RAPTOR REPORTER

RAHA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL GARDENS CAMPUS UPDATES The current Gardens campus will undergo several campus improvement projects over the summer break. The following areas will undergo /are undergoing a complete renovation :

- Early Years 1 Classrooms and Hubs - Arabic Hub - Digital Design Hub

Work on the new Arabic hub has already begun. Parents may have noticed works ongoing at the rear of Building A (adjacent to the Primary School playground in the corner). The building is being extended to make room for additional classrooms and a breakout space.

Early Years 1 will see a complete overhaul to align with plans for the new campus.

The Digital Design classrooms will move to the mezzanine floor of the Raha Arts Centre. Designed by Space Zero, a company who specialises in “the design of knowledge sharing environments� , the new Digital Design Hub will be a flexible space designed to encourage creative thinking and collaboration.

We have also renovated the old Digital Design classrooms into a Staff Hub, a space for our staff to take a break, have some lunch and catch up on any work.

Arabic Hub Plan

TERM 3 | 2018-2019

Raha International School Staff Hub Early Years Classroom inspira...

Raha International School Staff Hub Raha International School Staff Hub

Digital Design Hub inspiration

Digital Design Hub inspiration

GRADE 12 LEAVERS

THE RAPTOR REPORTER We bid farewell to Raha’s ninth graduating class many of whom will be heading off to universities all over the world in September. As always, we expect our average scores to be well above the world average.

Over 120 universities have offered our students places and there are more to come over the next few weeks.

Our 2019 graduation ceremony was a wonderful event that celebrated our students and their families.

Well done to our graduates, best of luck in the future, and keep in touch!

WHERE ARE THEY GOING? Grade 12 leavers have been accepted to universities in the following countries, and several are waiting for acceptances from countries such as Germany and Portugal to come at a later date.

Australia Bahrain Belgium Canada Cyprus Finland France Hong Kong Hungary India Ireland Italy

Japan Lebanon Malaysia Mexico Netherlands Philippines South Africa Spain United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States of America

Benorix Hur: A Race For Freedom It was the perfect end to the 2018-2019 performing arts season! Congratulations to the Grade 6-8 acting ensemble cast and the full crew that supported our students in their AMAZING production of Benorix Hur: A Race For Freedom.

PERFORMING ARTS

TERM 3 | 2018-2019

PERFORMING ARTS

THE RAPTOR REPORTER

2019-2020 PERFORMING ARTS SEASON ANNOUNCED The 2019-2020 season was announced last Thursday and the response from the students was immense!

We are all very excited for the upcoming season after such a successful year.

VISUAL ARTS - RAHA OSCARS 2019

TERM 3 | 2018-2019

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

THE RAPTOR REPORTER

Below are a few examples of excellent achievements by our students this term: •

Grade 8 students Daniella, Louise, and Omar won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively at the Taaleem Science Fair 2019 in the Grade 8 category. 15 winners from the RIS Grade 8 Science Fair entered and competed against Grade 8 students across Taaleem schools.

•

Grade 8 student Michael won the Raha Science Fair 2019. Well done to all the students on their fantastic projects for the science fair.

•

Raha student Abdulaziz Alameri represented the UAE at the 2019 AKF (Asian Karate Federation) Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships in Malaysia, winning the bronze medal.

•

Two teams from Raha took part in the 7th Annual National Mathematics Contest. Our Grade 11 team, Barkin and Jinwoong, took home 1st place!

•

So many of our students and community were caught being great this term! Thank you to everyone who supported the initiative from donating to our Ramadan Fridges and to those in need, to volunteering at beach cleanups.

•

Grade 6 students took a stand against plastic waste and organised a plastic free-lunch day to highlight the amount of waste at Raha.

Primary students from Raha showed off their creative and divergent thinking at the 2nd national Tournament of Minds competition. Congratulations to all the participants and our 2 winnings teams, Animalia and Masterminds. #BeyondTomorrow #TournamentOfMinds

COMPETITIVE SPORTS

UAE TEEN SPORTS & FITNESS AWARDS Raha had a very successful evening at the UAE Teen Sports and Fitness Awards competing against some of the top schools across the UAE. Raha coaches, teams and students won the following awards: Raha International School - 3rd Place Fittest School

Raha Tri Team - 2nd Place UAE Best Sports Team Mixed

Raha Golf Team - 3rd Place UAE Best Sports Team Mixed

Mr. Andrew Cole - 2nd Place UAE Best Male Coach - School

Ms. Debbie Schreiber (Arabian Swim Academy) - 2nd Place UAE Best Coach for People of Determination Ms. Helen Wilson (Arabian Swim Academy) - 2nd Place Best Female Coach - Club/Academy Ghala Almaainah - 3rd Place Outstanding Female Athlete - Racket sports U15 Marwan Ibrahim - 3rd Place Outstanding Male Athlete - Martial Arts U15 Sarah Alameri (Martial Arts) - Special Commendation Female U19 Remi Lavoie (Ice Hockey) - Special Commendation U19

TERM 3 COMPETITIVE SPORTS The Raha Raptors ended off an already successful year ofsSport with a bang! Although it was such a short season, our basketball, volleyball and badminton teams dominated their leagues.

The boys U14 , U12B , U11A , and U11C basketball teams claimed 1st place and the U17 boys basketball team placed 2nd in their tournaments facing the tough competition of ADISSA schools.

The U14 and U12 badminton teams did exceptionally well with the girls coming a close 2nd place.

We had tremendous numbers come out for our U9 basketball teams, both boys and girls. All of our teams proved their dedication and motivation over the short season and played their hearts out in the tournaments, making Raha proud!

The girls volleyball teams played well when competing in a tough end of season tournament. The U17 team placed 3rd overall.

We had our Sports Awards Presentations which celebrated the achievements across the year. We celebrated our athletes’ demonstration of leadership, commitment, perseverance and dedication and several athletes were also awarded the Coaches Award or the Most Valuable Player Award.

We hope you enjoy your summer holiday and we can’t wait to get started on another great year of sport in 2019/2020.

COMPETITIVE SPORTS

TERM 3 | 2018-2019

OSRAH

THE RAPTOR REPORTER

INTRODUCING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT RAHA From our youngest to our oldest, Raha is a school full of students who are brimming with new ideas, new takes on old ideas, questions, solutions, and a desire to explore. In a word, Raha is a school of opportunities. Throughout our school each year, a very large number of amazing projects are conceived and undertaken across every grade level, many of these conceived by students. As a way to harness this energy, the Raha Entrepreneurship Programme aims to bring as many of these projects together as possible under the one banner by providing the pathway and support for students and teachers of any grade level to pursue their vision.

The goal of the Raha Entrepreneurship Programme is simple: to guide students through the process of realising their ideas, thereby introducing them to the notion of entrepreneurial risk-taking and all that entails, from managing accounts, guiding teams, creating timelines, marketing and connecting to the broader Raha community so they can best share their achievements.

Though the program officially launches in the 2019-20 school year, we have already been working, with the recent publication of a book entirely conceived, written and illustrated by the EY1 Camel class. An idea generated from a class project, each student took responsibility for creating a page of the book, subsequently made available as a specially printed and bound edition to parents.

As well as supporting student projects, Entrepreneurship at Raha also includes an Internship Programme component focused on connecting our students with internship opportunities in prominent local and globally recognised businesses. Our rationale is simple: to provide our senior students with relevant, challenging, and real world career experiences in the world beyond the school walls. This year we have secured approximately twenty positions across a range of industries from health, aviation, education and hotels and entertainment, with plans to significantly expand the scope and number of positions as we commence the 2019-20 school year.

A final and vital component of both the entrepreneurship and internship aspects of the program is parent involvement. Just like our students and teachers, our parent body is a dynamic and diverse group. At the start of the next school year one key aim for Entrepreneurship at Raha is to canvass our parent body for ideas and opportunities to expand and strengthen our program, so please watch this space carefully!

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

TERM 3 | 2018-2019

LEAVERS

THE RAPTOR REPORTER

STAFF LEAVERS It is that time of year again when we bid farewell to some of our staff. We wish them all the very best on their next adventures, wherever they may go.

Alison Wighton Anupama Balakrishnan Basma Darwich Bonnie Juarez Brendan McCabe Brittany Walker Bryce McBride David Taylor Ernani Erjas Farah Elbitar Hadeel Al Ghouleh Ildico Roser Jeannine Connors Jerome Geronimo Karen Ariz

Lynda Stevenson Manal Abdul Nasar Mary-Kay Polly Mette Trillingsgaard Michelle Currey Nicole Couture Nicole Mann Rebecca Miller Robert Megarry Ruth Eldridge Sarah Christiansen Sean O’Callaghan Stacey Shanon Tammy Reen Tami Wears Valarie Noakes

2020 -2019 ACADEMIC YEAR

RAHA FAMILIES LEAVING We are always sad to see families leave Raha. To all the parents and students who will be leaving Raha this year, we wish you the very best as you move on to new schools/cities/countries and new adventures.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS • • • •

Thursday, 2nd August – remaining Term 1 tuition due Wednesday, 28th August – class assignments sent to parents provided Term 1 tuition is settled Sunday, 1st September – our New Student & Parent Orientation; Grade 6 Student Orientation (ALL Grade 6 students to attend)

ACADEMIC CALENDAR

2019-2020 ACADEMIC YEAR

TERM 3 | 2018-2019

THE RAPTOR REPORTER TERM 3 | 2018-2019

We hope you have an enjoyable Summer Break!